Gas reserves within the European Union have hit an all-time peak, as per data released by the European Gas Infrastructure Operators Association (GIE) and reported by the TASS agency.
According to these figures, Europe’s underground gas storage facilities are presently at a 97.89% capacity, marking an 8.54 percentage point increase from the average of the past five years for this period. This equates to a storage volume of 107.75 billion cubic metres of gas.
European nations managed to fill their facilities to the planned 90% level by mid-August in preparation for the upcoming heating season. This surpassed expectations set by the European Commission, which had projected reaching this level by November.
The previous record, a fill rate of 97.84%, was set on 28th October 2019.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) had previously indicated that Europe could potentially fill its gas storages nearly to 100%. However, even such high reserves might lead to market instability in the event of a harsh winter combined with a complete halt in gas deliveries from Russia.